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2018 – Starting my 6th year in business

I remember in 2012 when I was deciding between either remaining in employment or starting a business. It reminded me of preparing to take my driving test as a teenager. So much of the information to hand was negative. Driving tests were virtually impossible to pass, and most start-up businesses failed within the first few weeks, months, or years depending on what you read.

However, 14th December 2017 did mark five years in business for Hargreaves Marketing Ltd, and so it is worth writing a short blog to reflect on the journey so far and also look ahead.

It is worth mentioning that the run-up to starting a business had not been a smooth one. After many years of stable employment with three of those jobs lasting between seven and eleven years each, the recession of 2008 decimated the publishing industry, and I found myself in four jobs in as many years. At the time I thought this was terrible. Looking at LinkedIn since and seeing how people move around so quickly, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. What was clear was the way companies, employment, and sales, marketing and business in general was changing. Many people will have their memories of that time, and this blog isn’t the place go into details. So why do I mention it now? The point is that while this was a difficult period, the lessons I learned and the observations I made, have formed the foundation for the start-up, and ongoing development of my business. I was able to recognise the pains and difficulties which business people were going through and provide services which could help.

I am forever grateful to my customers, suppliers, partners and all those other people who have supported me since 2012. Without you, there would be no business.

My services are very different now to when I started. Like many new start-ups, I found myself doing a wide variety of different types of projects, and like a mind map, doing one thing leads off to something new and exciting. My previous experience forms the foundation, but it is all the new learning, development, and technology which is taking my business forward into areas which I could not have foreseen five years ago.

This post isn’t about whether anyone should start a business or choose employment. Instead, the key intended takeaway from this blog is that yes, difficult times are tough to handle at the time, but they can also provide the motivation and the stepping stone we need to propel us forward into new exciting areas.